Critical Race Theory and Antiracism in Grand Haven Area Public Schools (2)

Part Two: Some Examples

If you ask anyone associated with Grand Haven Area Public Schools if Critical Race Theory (CRT) or Antiracist teachings such as Ibram X. Kendi’s work are taught, they will say no. In some ways, this is truthful. There is not a course titled “Critical Race Theory” in the curriculum. It isn’t that simple, however. Through the use of supplemental resources and teaching otherwise normal lessons through the lens of Critical Race Theory, the building blocks are being laid in the schools. Here I will give you a few examples of how this is being taught.

At a school board meeting, a recently graduated student retold an essay her class read through. The basics were, a small white woman was walking alone down a street at night. A large, sketchy looking black man was also walking down the same street. The woman felt unsafe and fled. The moral at the end of the story was that it was because of race that the white woman would flee. In fact, when I asked a school official, the response I received was “both descriptions were the same except for their physical description, they were both alone, why did the woman have to flee? Why was he the threat?”

So here we have an example of teaching through a CRT lens. There wouldn’t need to be a mention of CRT explicitly, but the lesson is taught in that vein. The implication here is that the girl saw “black” man, and judged him based on race. There are many reasons why this is wrong, but I’ll start with this: use the same scenario and exclude race. A large sketchy looking man is walking down the same street as a small woman. What would the small woman do? If you have a daughter, what would you want your daughter to do? I would want mine to avoid any sketchy looking man, in any scenario, especially if they’re both alone. This seems an obvious answer, but apparently isn’t obvious in the Grand Haven Schools. There is an entire industry centered around products for women to carry for protection for just this scenario.

By focusing on the race of the two individuals, they took a rather normal reaction and ascribed her motivations to racism. They inserted race into an otherwise non racial situation. This is teaching through a Critical Race Theory lens. (Never mind the fact that they distinguished between a man and woman without knowing what pronouns the large sketchy individual went by.)

At another school board meeting, a pastor, Jared Cramer attended and spoke on the need to mandate masks. He advocated for masks, in an overcrowded small room, while admittedly not wearing one. You can read his telling of the story here. More interestingly and to the point of this post, was a line near the end of his column. In the next to last paragraph, he recounts speaking to a high school student who followed him out of the room. This high school student, in Mr. Cramer’s words, said he had been learning about CRT in school. When I asked a school official about this, the quote I received in return will seem familiar if you read my first post on this subject: “Mr. Cramer is using the term CRT erroneously”. Sounds a lot like he has a misunderstanding of what CRT is. Except he doesn’t. He was relaying what a student in the classroom said. A student, who said he was learning about CRT in school. So to believe Mr. Cramer was using the term erroneously, you have to believe that a student took a non-CRT lesson, took it upon himself to label it CRT, and relayed that to Mr. Cramer. Or, a simper explanation is, the student was learning about CRT in school and expressed this to Mr. Cramer.

Recently, the Detroit schools Superintendent proudly spoke about how they are deeply using Critical Race Theory. “We were very intentional about creating a curriculum, infusing materials and embedding critical race theory within our curriculum,” said Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. Notice the language used in that quote. “Infusing” and “embedding” CRT in the curriculum. In other words, teaching through a Critical Race Theory lens. You can view the video here.

You may be thinking this is Detroit, not Grand Haven. Fair enough. Let’s go over to the Michigan Department of Education website. In a document titled “Standards for the Preparation of Teachers of English Language Arts”, on page 29 of the 32 page document, under “Readings, References and Resources”, standard ELA.2., culturally responsive practices in English Language Arts, the fourth reference is a scholarly article titled “Where do we go from here? Toward a critical race English Education”. Whether it’s Detroit or Grand Haven, Critical Race Theory is embedded in our children’s education.

Now let’s look at supplemental resources. Teachers are allowed to and sometimes encouraged to vet outside resources to supplement the official curriculum. Two places that we will look at in depth are the local Momentum Center, and the national Zinn Project. The Momentum Center is an encouraged resource at Grand Haven Area Public Schools. If you go to their website, they have an Antiracism Task Force. Grand Haven Area Public Schools are a member of the Momentum Center’s Antiracism Task Force. Take one look at the book list of this task force, and you will see writings by Ta-nehisi Coates, Robin DiAngelo (White Fragility) and many books by Ibram X. Kendi. These are books encouraged to be vetted by educators to put in front of our children, without parent’s knowledge beforehand and with no reference to these sources in the curriculum.

The Zinn project is a national resource for educators to pull lessons and readings from to use in the classroom. They have a “pledge to teach the truth” on their website, where educators pledged to teach CRT and other harmful ideology regardless of the laws in their state. In fact, one local teacher, Molly Mcginnis signed the pledge. In her comment, she wrote, “I became an educator because of education’s ability to make a positive change for marginalized groups. I refuse to jeopardize the safety of my minority students for the comfort of white supremacists.” Molly Mcginnis teaches 4th grade.

These are just some ways in which CRT and Antiracism are taught in Grand Haven Area Public Schools. There are more, such as the post on this site about the assignment associated with the book “To Kill A Mockingbird”. No, it isn’t in the curriculum labeled as “CRT” or “Antiracism”, but make no mistake, lessons are taught through the lens of Critical Race Theory and Antiracism.